


Villainous Explanations

by Talyesin



Series: Aftermath on Finite Earths [29]
Category: DCU (Comics)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-15
Updated: 2018-08-15
Packaged: 2019-06-27 21:24:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 899
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15693657
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Talyesin/pseuds/Talyesin





	Villainous Explanations

Limbo

 

Yellow sky dotted with black suns irradiating strange gravities and stranger radiations surrounded a blue-clad man floating, unconscious. Asteroids made of elements unheard of in five universes drifted unheedingly past, some barren of life, some sprouting strange vegetations, others sentient and screaming in the languages of madness. A cosmic string the thickness of a city bus coiled around and about, glowing a soft pink, stretching for hundreds of thousands of light-years.

A strange silver vessel approached the unconscious man. To a humanoid observer, the ship’s form would vaguely resemble a robotic skull, albeit one with strange, tentacle-like appendages growing from its chin like some inhuman beard. Two of the tentacles reached out to bind the unconscious man, then pulled him aboard the vessel.

Superman awoke sometime later, bound by thick titanium bands, strapped to a metallic table.

“Hi there,” said a familiar voice from next to him. Superman turned to face its source.

“Captain Marvel?”

On a similar table, similarly bound, lay Earth S’s Mightiest Mortal.

“How do you feel?” Marvel asked.

“I’ll be better in a second,” Superman answered, flexing his muscles. Three inches of titanium couldn’t hold the Last Kryptonian, who could easily rip starship hull plating apart without breaking a sweat.

But three inches of titanium, this time, was more than enough.

“I tried that, old friend,” Captain Marvel smiled. “Something’s sapping our powers.”

A quick scan of the vessel with his X-ray, telescopic, and microscopic vision told Superman that that wasn’t entirely true. Several areas of the ship were shielded from his supersight, but there was no question as to where they were.

“No, it’s just some of our powers. Odd.”

“Do you know where we are?”

“Yes. Do you know how we got here?”

“I was taking the Rock of Ages to reach Earth One or Earth Two, but woke up here. Wherever here is.”

“It’s Brainiac’s ship.”

“Wrong again, Kryptonian.”

The two most powerful men of two universes turned toward the speaker. Bald, clad in purple and green power armour, he was immediately recognizable. Other figures stood in the shadows behind him.

“Luthor!” Superman spat angrily.

“This isn’t Brainiac’s ship, it’s Brainiac himself. You never quite got that, did you?”

“Luthor, what madness have you been plotting now?”

“Much as I’d love to take credit for it, this one’s not mine, Kal-El. Parasite, you’re sure they’re drained completely?”

A purple-clad man hovered into the light. “I’ve taken their strength, speed, and flight. I couldn’t get their invulnerability without burning out. As it is I’m stretched nearly to my breaking point. I’ve got to go burn some of this power off or else –“

“Fine, go. Earth Four, inconceivably, needs some assistance.”

Parasite hesitated. “There’s nothing for me on that Earth. If I wind up using up all this power there….”

“Then I suggest you dispatch of the problem quickly. Go.”

Parasite waited a resentful second then flew off into the darkened depths of the ship.

“You haven’t answered the question, Luthor.”

“Ever observant, aren’t we? It’s so simple even a moron like you must be able to see it, but I’ll spell it out for you. We’re taking over the Earth, one Earth at a time. Earth X has fallen, and Earths Four and S are next. Then, once we’ve firmly established our rule on those Earths, we’ll take Earth Two and finally, Earth One.”

“Who’s we, Luthor?” Captain Marvel asked.

“The Crime Syndicate,” Luthor answered, smirking.

“The Crime Syndicate died in the Crisis – heroically, I might add. Along with Earth Three’s entire universe.”

“Ever the linear thinker. I’m not surprised. Sivana warned us. We are the new Crime Syndicate, of course. Inspired by the original.” Luthor waved his hand, turning away from them, and a holographic projection of the original Crime Syndicate resolved itself opposite the bound heroes.

“Superwoman, Owlman, Power Ring, Johnny Quick, and Ultraman.” Luthor turned back to the heroes. “Did you know Ultraman’s Krypton didn’t explode? That’s right. He wasn’t the last survivor of a doomed planet. He was the greatest mass murderer Krypton ever knew. He wasn’t rocketed to Earth by loving parents. He was exiled to the deepest corners of space for his crimes, frozen in stasis. By accident his stasis tube slipped through a wormhole and he wound up on Earth. When he woke up, super-powered, he constructed a ship and returned to Krypton and laid waste to them all, ensuring he was the last Kryptonian.” Luthor laughed. “It seems he was as much of a dunce as you, Superman. He couldn’t count past one.”

“Luthor, enough,” a woman with glowing red eyes said. “Let’s not denigrate our predecessors too much.”

“If you insist,” Luthor answered, ceding the spotlight to her as she hovered toward the bound heroes.

“No,” was all Superman could say in his shock.

She was a young woman, beautiful, strong, a defiant set to her jaw, a cruel smile playing on her full lips, her blonde hair cropped short on the sides, though long bangs curled down her forehead. She wore a red headband, a tight-fitting long-sleeved blue shirt, a short pleated red skirt, red boots that reached her knees in a point, and a red cape draped from her shoulders. Set between her breasts, an emblem - a stylized red U in a diamond outline.

“Kara?” Superman whispered when the shock had worn off.

“Call me Ultragirl,” she said, then laughed maniacally.


End file.
